The pervasive use of APIs within Cloud systems simplifies integration and helps keep costs under control, even though custom integration may still be needed at times.
The pervasive use of APIs within Cloud systems simplifies integration and helps keep costs under control, even though custom integration may still be needed at times.
Customer self-service is critical for Cloud services in order to keep support and operational costs down-plus, if approached correctly, it can be a way to cross-sell and up-sell additional services. Plus, Cloud services customers expect to have Web-based management tools, preferring to "do it themselves" than call a support number.
Cloud services need to be provisioned and billed accordingly — sometimes based on usage and other times based on users. There is a growing need to be able to aggregate syndicated Cloud services that are not managed directly by the service provider but are bundled into a subscription plan and billed.
Cloud infrastructure management needs to be highly automated to be able to scale up and down rapidly. Key infrastructure building blocks like servers and virtual environments, need to be standardized ensuring maximum scalability, elasticity and availability of services.
Service Providers are integrating not one, but many Cloud services, with new services introduced frequently-and rapidly. Further complexity comes from the fact that the services can reside either within a provider’s data center or (for syndicated services) in one operated by a third party.
Storefronts and marketplaces in the Cloud must include both services and applications and increasingly must be able to manage syndicated third-party services as well as those managed directly.
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